on Instagram, leave a comment on the project that you wish to nominate and use the hashtag #ewcpotm (short for “EWC project of the month”).

We’re going to choose from those nominations but we can’t guarantee that any of them will come up in a vote because we have no idea how many projects will be sent in. The projects don’thave to be posted in that particular month.

Please introduce yourself to our readers: Where are you from? What do you do when you’re not in the workshop, and where can we find you on the web?

I am James and by day I’m an IT Project Manager from the UK. My online woodworking presence is predominantly on Instagram as I love the simplicity of it over other social media. My Instagram name is @tensquaremetres – chosen because my house is small and I don’t have much space outside to work in! I have a YouTube account, though I don’t upload anything at present – it’s more passive engagement for me: keeps my woodworking and making subscriptions separate and makes it easy to communicate with others on the comments section.

How old are you and for how long have you been practicing woodworking as a hobby?

For the past four or five years I’ve been taking woodworking really seriously as my hobby. I’m 32-years-old now, and been making things here and there since I was a kid, but I think finding out I was going to be a father really triggered the urge to make more things with my hands – I have no idea why!

How did you come to do woodworking and what’s your motivation to practice this hobby?

It’s always something I’ve been interested in, though had many years of being lazy and partying instead of being productive.

Two things that reignited my interest were a good friend and housemate at university who studied design and had amazing projects and ideas around the house. He is now a successful furniture designer in London, and living with him was great inspiration to really invest time and effort into working with my hands more, so once I finished being lazy I did just that.

Secondly, Instructables! I didnt have much money at all at the time, and there were so many cool things being made on that site out of cheap and recycled things, I became obsessed with it myself, and eventually won a good prize in an Instructables woodworking contest which was pleasing and motivating.

Before that, while I was growing up my father was a good craftsman – he used to work in construction before I was born, building dams and things – and made a lot of things with his hands, from walls and sheds to toys like sledges for me. If something needed fixing, it would be fixed at home if possible so paying someone to make things you could learn to do yourself has always been a bit alien to me.

So I think my motivation in woodworking is based on this mindset to an extend, but when I get old I would like to have made as many things around my house as possible – everything will be, maybe not perfect, but unique and have a little story and bit of heart and soul in it. I love it when people ask “Where can I buy one of those?” and the answer is they can’t, because I made it! And finally, have a decent set of skills (and tools!) to pass to my son as he grows.

Why do you share your projects on the web?

To learn! The Instagram woodworking, and general maker, community is such a good hub for developing skills, getting ideas and meeting interesting people – there’s lots of very kind and talented woodworkers sharing ideas, inspiration and help. For instance I’ve recently bought a welder, as it’s something I’ve always wanted to learn, and received a lot of advice and recommendations already.

So while my projects are not nearly as impressive as other woodworkers online, I like to get feedback, share and record my progress, and – hopefully – do my little bit to keep the community a welcoming and interesting place.

What photo/video equipment do you use and why? If you make videos, what’s your typical workflow for a video?

I don’t make videos! I use my phone for 99.99% of my Instagram photos – it’s a Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime (really cheap, battery lasts forever) with an average sort of camera.

Do you have a favourite tool? If so, what do you like about it?

There’s not one single tool I’d call my favourite, but in terms of hand tools I have an Irwin 185mm pull saw which I use all the time and love to bits – it’s very sharp, has a super thin kerf and is great for small, neat and delicate work. My first proper hand plane is an old Stanley No.3 I restored – that’s the one I use most and I’m very attached to it.

I had a cheap chisel blade, well a set, that I cut short into butt chisels and put into new handles I bought online – the 16mm one get used all the time for all sorts of things. Metal rules can’t be beat for measuring and marking. And I’m a sucker for anything Wera or Knipex!

As for power tools, there’s nothing like a decent little trim router. A really versatile tool with so many applications you can’t very easily replicate. I recently got a tiny disc sander too, which is proving very useful indeed, so a bigger one is definitely on my shopping list. I’ve got an 18v drill and impact driver, though since I got a cheap little 10.8 V drill I really want to get more small drills and drivers – I love the size, weight and power of them!

English

When working with tools and especially power tools, safety is extremely important. An accident in the shop can turn a healthy, productive woodworker into a helpless patient who can possibly no longer provide for themselves or their family. Therefore we’d like to talk about safety in the hobbyist wood shop.

But there’s a problem. We’re all not professionals in this field and we don’t have the knowledge and the training to teach confidently about how you should use your particular tools and machines. To do that, we’d have to see your shop, we’d need to have special training and lots of experience on top. But still we want to talk about safety because it’s important.

So in this series of posts we’re going to point you to various topics that are safety relevant and we’re going to give you links to materials made by professionals so you can learn about the topic. Often it’s enough to be aware of a possible danger to reduce or prevent it. We want to sharpen your awareness and by giving you links make it easy for you to learn what you need to know so you can stay healthy and out of harms way.

Of course, we the community admins, cannot guarantee that in our videos and posts all safety measures are correct. We’re not professionals, after all. But if we all keep learning and point out mistakes to each other in a friendly, respectful way, that’s going to make everyone safer.

All the projects are in and many of the people who built something are members of our community. So go over to his blog post where he collected all the videos and watch the creative and original lamps that were built in the course of this challenge. The variety and creative woodworking on display here is amazing!

You can also vote for your favourite project of the challenge. To do that, go to the home page of this blog and find the voting tool on the right. Voting will be open until midnight on 17.06.2017.

English version of AoK’s story

I built this small jewellery box for Dominic Bender’s [also an EWC member] “Challenge Tree”. He does this challenge every year and for it already has cult status.

I made the box out of a birch branch. Birch is excellent for such projects because the wood has a nice grain and the bark has a beautiful colour.

I especially like to build projects with my bandsaw because I don’t need much planning, I just start into the project and see what happens. I improvise a lot and sketch saw lines freehand to cut out. Then I glue the parts up, add some eye candy here and there and that’s that.

The bandsaw is by far my favourite tool: quite accurate and simple to use. I hope you like the box as much as I do. The video show quite well how I made it.

Many thanks for your interest. I’m looking forward to the other projects that will be featured in this series and I wish all EWC members all the best!